Lorwyn Eclipsed prerelease has come and gone, and so far, things look positive. Ninja Turtles crashing the party aside, there was a major fear that Lorwyn Eclipsed would feel a lot like Bloomburrow. Because of the set’s synergistic typal nature, Bloomburrow’s different themes didn’t play well together, making for a very polarizing prerelease experience.
Thankfully, in practice, Lorwyn Eclipsed didn’t have this problem. Due to the set’s creature types having more generic effects and Changelings providing extra support, there wasn’t a massive imbalance. This even allowed the set’s Champion cards to be surprisingly splashable, opening the door for powerful lethal combos.
Champion of the Path Combo
It didn’t take long before MTG players discovered a deadly combo between Champion of the Path and Kindle the Inner Flame. As long as you have six mana and two extra Elementals to Behold, this 3.5-card combo is capable of dishing out as much as 35 damage on the spot.
With a copy of Champion of the Path on the board, all you have to do to kickstart this combo is cast Kindle the Inner Flame. By copying Champion of the Path, the copy will trigger the original version, pinging your opponent for seven. After this, you can Flashback Kindle of the Inner Flame to create another Champion of the Path copy, which triggers the original and first copy. While this will deal 14 additional damage to each opponent, if that’s not enough, both tokens have Haste, allowing for a 14 damage attack swing.
Unfortunately, while OTK combo potential is always exciting, this combo doesn’t come without its downsides. For starters, needing six mana for this combo means it’s only really a contender in Limited. Beyond this, Kindle the Inner Flame isn’t a particularly powerful card if you’ve not gone tons of powerful Elementals. Due to this, it’s often at risk of rotting away in your hand, especially if you’re not fully built around Elementals. All of that said, on the bright side, this combo is deceptively easy to assemble in Lorwyn Eclipsed Limited, especially in Draft when Elementals are open.
More Powerful Champions
Outside of this combo in Lorwyn Eclipsed limited, the other cards in the Champion cycle are just as powerful. Champions of the Shoal can easily lock a board down, combined with some early tap outlets like Springleaf Drum. Champion of the Weird easily three-for-ones your opponent, and can even create super synergies with cards like Kinbinding and Ajani, Outland Chaperone. While Champions of the Perfect doesn’t really combo with anything, the raw card advantage it provides will be extremely difficult to keep up with. Champions of the Clachan seems like the least impressive card of the cycle, but it’s still a game-winning powerhouse in Kithkin Draft decks. Add on how surprisingly easy it is to splash these cards, and there’s a strong chance that Lorwyn Eclipsed Limited will have these cards at the center of it.
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